DANVILLE, Pa., April 14, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Glenn Steele Jr., M.D., Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Geisinger Health System, will be a keynote speaker at the Healthcare Business Intelligence Forum on Thursday, April 17, at the Renaissance Washington D.C. Downtown Hotel.

At Geisinger, Dr. Steele has guided one of the nation's largest integrated delivery networks and made it a leader in using data contained within the electronic health record (EHR) to improve patient care. He will share insight during his 9 a.m. keynote, titled "Data and Behavior Change, Now and in the Future: The Geisinger Experience."

Dr. Steele will discuss what he sees as the sweet spot in the evolution of health care: combining data and behavior change to improve both patient care and the bottom line.

"Our structural advantage that we talk about internally and externally over the past 15 years is this payer-provider sweet spot," Dr. Steele said. "We've tried to figure out how our version of vertical integration between payer and provider can really optimally mesh the information and the use and analysis of it from both sides of the house."

He will emphasize the importance of changing the behavior of patients, providers, clinicians and payers in achieving improved care and cost-containment goals. He will also share his vision for how Geisinger will continue to evolve its data strategy over the next five years.

"One thing that we're really committed to and we've recruited new leadership into the information technology area, on both the provider and payer side is getting distributed data out there. We're interested in the functionality aspects," Dr. Steele said. "I would love to see Geisinger set the pace on applications, and to move to a much more open-source platform, as opposed to this incredibly rigid, incredibly proprietary pipe that we're now dependent upon for our EHR."

His talk will also provide business intelligence advice to smaller providers that they can apply to their own hospitals and practices.

"I think the biggest piece of advice is to look at the functionality you want first," he said. "And understand the nuance of the various systems, whether they're hospital-based or ambulatory, or what have you."

Since 2012, Dr. Steele has served on the United States Congressional Budget Office's panel of health advisers. He is also a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, serves as a member of the Roundtable on Value and Science-driven Healthcare, was recently appointed to the Committee on the Governance and Financing of Graduate Medical Education, and previously served on the Committee on Reviewing Evidence to Identify Highly Effective Clinical Services (HECS). A fellow of the American College of Surgeons, Dr. Steele is a member of the American Surgical Association, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, and past president of the Society of Surgical Oncology.

About Geisinger Health SystemGeisinger Health System is an integrated health services organization widely recognized for its innovative use of the electronic health record, and the development of innovative care models such as ProvenHealth Navigator® and ProvenCare®. As the nation's largest rural health services organization, Geisinger serves more than 2.6 million residents throughout 44 counties in central and northeastern Pennsylvania. The physician-led system is comprised of more than 20,800 employees, including a 1,000-member multi-specialty group practice, eight hospital campuses, two research centers and a 450,000-member health plan, all of which leverage an estimated $6.1 billion positive impact on the Pennsylvania economy. The health system and the health plan have repeatedly garnered national accolades for integration, quality and service. In addition to fulfilling its patient care mission, Geisinger has a long-standing commitment to medical education, research and community service. For more information, visit www.geisinger.org, or follow the latest Geisinger news and more on Twitter and Facebook.